8 Missing Kisses of Katniss Everdeen
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: Hi Guys! It's been a while! This is a series of vignettes showcasing all the missing kisses Katniss and Peeta (and a few others as well!) could have had throughout the Hunger Games series. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Trade With Darius Kiss

**Trade With Darius Kiss**

Katniss Everdeen entered the Hob with plenty of fresh game to sell. As she was making her trade at Greasy Sae's stall, she was approached by Darius, a redheaded friendly Peacekeeper.

"Got anything left over, Ms. Everdeen?" Darius asked.

Katniss shrugged. She had very few people within her orbit of Folks She Cared About, and Darius's fun-loving personality was one of them. "Plenty. And since Greasy Sae was my last stop, all that's left can be yours."

Darius looked into her game bag, seeing a full turkey and a few rabbits inside. Poking his head out of the bag, he grinned. "This could feed the boys for over a month! All this for the Barracks?"

Katniss shrugged and nodded again. Darius beamed. "Come here," taking Katniss by the hand and pulling her towards the back of the stalls in the rear of the Hob.

Katniss's brow furrowed as she frowned. "Why?" she asked, suspicious.

But Darius couldn't wait until they reached their destination, and before they quite got there, he whirled around and kissed Katniss full on the lips, each of his hands gently framing her face.

"Mmm!" Katniss squealed in shock, for she hadn't had time to realize what he was doing even as he was doing it. She had never been kissed before in her life. Sure, Darius had once joked with her to make a trade for a kiss, but she had laughed him off. She had never imagined he would actually want to kiss her...

Maybe Katniss's eyes were open in astonishment, but Darius's were closed. Then, he felt Katniss's arms go tentatively about his neck, and she was clutching him toward her, pulling him closer and closer until he forgot how to breathe and didn't care if he ever learned again. Her lips were softer than he had imagined in his daydreams and her hair smelled like wild honey.

It was the most wonderful kiss he had ever had in his life.


	2. Chapter 2: Gale After 74th Reaping Kiss

**Gale After 74th Reaping Kiss**

Katniss cautiously approached the door of the room that now held her prisoner in the Justice Building. When it opened by itself, even as she was reaching for the knob, she shrank back in shock as Gale Hawthorne, her hunting partner, came through. The two friends pulled each other into a hug.

"Are you OK?" Gale croaked.

"I'm alright. I'm fine," Katniss tried to tell him.

"Listen to me. You're stronger than they are. You are," Gale encouraged her. "Get to a bow. And if they don't have one, then you make one. You know how to hunt!"

"Animals..." Katniss shook her head.

"It's no different, Katniss," Gale told her softly grimly.

Then, suddenly, he had taken Katniss in his arms and pressed his lips to hers. Katniss stiffened in surprise. Her first instinct was the push him away. But this was probably goodbye. And goodbye could take many forms. So she relaxed ever so slightly in Gale's embrace and let him kiss her. She even kissed him back, if only a little and even though she knew she was bad at kissing.

When they broke the kiss at last, gently, the Peacekeepers soon came in to take Gale away. "Don't let my family starve, Gale!" Katniss begged.

"I'll see you soon, OK?" Gale coached her, even as the door was slamming shut.


	3. Chapter 3: First Train Ride With Peeta K

**First Train Ride With Peeta Kiss**

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark sat side by side in the last car of the train taking them to the Capitol. They had yet to meet their mentor, Haymitch Abernathy. Neither tribute looked at each other, and Katniss was especially stubborn. She was almost prissy in her attitude, but then again, she was usually cold towards most people.

Nevertheless, the blonde boy beside her tried to break the ice. "So have you ever met him? Haymitch?"

Katniss didn't answer, which Peeta found annoying. She didn't even look at him.

"You know, Katniss, this is scary for me too, but I don't think it's wrong to ask for a little bit of help!"

At the word _'help'_ , Katniss turned her head to face him. She stared at him, her expression in a grim, thin line. As a flashback of lying weak in the rain and watching this same boy throw bread to her came rushing back. She had never thanked him.

So she did now. Leaning across the armrest that separated them, Katniss captured Peeta's lips in a gentle kiss.

She had never initiated a kiss before, and she was still learning how it was done. Personally, she thought her skills were awful. So it surprised her with how quickly Peeta relaxed into the kiss. But wouldn't any boy, if offered a free kiss out of the blue?

Katniss drew away with a small _pop!_ , her expression still deliberate and serious. "Thank you," she whispered. "For saving my life all those years ago." Even if it was all for nothing now.

Peeta smiled. He must have remembered the bread, too. "You're welcome."


	4. Chapter 4: Night Before Games Kiss

**Night Before Games Kiss**

Katniss and Peeta sat up on the roof of the Training Center, watching the crowds below. Even after making some tiny progress on the train, the tentative trust they had formed had shattered after Peeta had announced in his interview that he was in love with Katniss. No wonder he had been so quick to kiss her back on the train!

"I just don't want them to turn me into something that I'm not in there," Peeta spoke up.

Katniss peered at him curiously. "How would they change you?"

"I keep thinking of a way to show them that they don't own me. You know, if I'm gonna die, I wanna still be me," Peeta explained grimly.

A rebel at heart. Even though Peeta had grown up a Merchant and had not wanted for anything in Twelve. Moved by his defiant statement, and pitying his hopeless outlook on his survival, Katniss decided to forgive him this once, his admission that he loved her. Pushing herself up on her knees, she leaned across the small space between them. Her eyes fluttered shut just slightly before her lips sealed around Peeta's in another kiss. Peeta's hands gently cupped her face as he kissed her back with slightly more passion than he had shown on the train.

At last, Katniss pulled away. "For luck," she explained.


	5. Chapter 5: Victory Tour Train Kiss

**Victory Tour Train Kiss**

The door hissed open as Victor Katniss Everdeen watched the trees slide away behind them on the train tracks.

"I'm really not in the mood for a lecture. I'll apologize to Effie later," she preemptively shot down.

No answer. She turned back to see her fellow Victor Peeta Mellark walking towards her. She glanced down, feeling slightly guilty. "Thought you were Haymitch."

"You don't have to apologize to anyone. Including me," Peeta said, heavily sitting down across from her. "But I can't just go on acting for the cameras and then just ignoring each other in real life. It wasn't fair of me to hold you to things you said in the Games. You saved us. I know that. So if you can stop looking at me like I'm wounded, and I can quit acting like it... then maybe... we've got a shot at being friends."

Katniss eyed him skeptically. "I've never been very good at making friends," she admitted.

"For starters, it does help when you know the person," Peeta said, taking on the role of a teacher. "I hardly know anything about you except you're stubborn and good with a bow."

"Well, that about sums me up," Katniss deadpanned back, even if the response was witty in its own little way.

"No, there's more than that, you just don't wanna tell me," Peeta laughed.

"It's like I said, I'm..."

"See, Katniss, the way the whole friendship thing works is you have to tell each other... the deep stuff."

"The deep stuff?" Katniss raised an eyebrow, amused. "Uh oh, like what?"

"Like... what's your favorite color?"

"Well, now you've stepped over the line," Katniss cracked.

Peeta laughed. "Seriously, though, what is it?"

It took her a moment to answer. "Green," she admitted simply. "What's yours?"

"Orange," Peeta replied with a hint of a smile.

Katniss gave him a funny look. "Like Effie's hair?"

"Nah, I don't mean that kind of orange. More like a... sunset kind of orange."

They were nearing their next destination, both of them could feel it. Without a word, Katniss got up to leave. Peeta followed and grabbed her hand, pulling her back to him. Katniss stared at him questioningly, before Peeta suddenly kissed her on the mouth. Katniss forgot herself for a moment, as she closed her eyes and deepened the kiss, allowing Peeta to sweep her into a dip. At last, he swung her back up and drew away.

"I thought you said we had a shot at being friends," Katniss smirked, amused by his boldness.

"Behind the scenes. But now, it's time to prep for the cameras," he told her.

Katniss laughed and headed out of the car. But even so, she touched a finger to her kissed lips and smiled.


	6. Chapter 6: Thank You For Saving Gale Kis

**Thank You For Saving Gale Kiss**

Katniss felt someone shaking her as she came out of a deep sleep. Her cheek stung from where she had slept on it for most of the night, asking the hard wood of her kitchen table. Turning away from where Gale lay healing on the table, she looked up to see Peeta staring at her with sad eyes.

"Peeta, what happened... I'm sorry..." she tried to apologize, remembering how frantic she had been over Gale's whipping and how she had kissed him before he went under the morphling drugs.

Peeta just waved it away. "I know. There's nothing to explain. Let's get you to bed."

He supported her as they began to climb the stairs. Katniss suddenly stumbled from fatigue and Peeta caught her against him. When she swooned again, he simply picked her up, bridal-style, and carried her to the door of her room. The pair stared at each other for a moment.

"Thank you," Katniss whispered.

"For what?"

"For saving Gale." And before she lost her nerve, she closed the gap between them and kissed him tenderly. Peeta held it for a moment before they broke apart. "Good night," she whispered. And Peeta set her down and watched her enter her room.


	7. Chapter 7: That's What I Want Kiss

**"That's What I Want" Kiss**

The sun was beginning to peak over the skyline of the Capitol. Katniss and Peeta lay in bed together, after platonically sharing a bed the night before, about to enter the arena once again with a field full of former Victors.

"I don't wanna be with anyone else in there. Just you," Katniss murmured. She pushed herself off of his chest to look Peeta in the face.

"If that's what you want," he whispered.

Katniss nodded sadly. "That's what I want."

A knock on the door made them both look towards the sound. "I'll see you soon," Peeta said grimly. He pushed himself up onto his elbows and captured Katniss's lips in a kiss before she could object. She deepened it in the most enthusiastic display of affection she had ever allowed with him, before reluctantly letting him leave her.


	8. Chapter 8: You Came Home & Annie's Lette

**"You Came Home" & Annie's Letter Kiss**

Katniss was trudging along the road towards the Victors' Village, trying to put her life back together after the war and without Peeta. She suddenly stopped in front of what had once been her mother's garden beyond their mansion, as she saw a familiar crop of blonde hair digging in the soil.

"Peeta," she whispered.

And indeed it was him, as he stood and turned around to face her. "Hey."

"You came home," she breathed, the ghost of a smile just gracing her astonished face.

"Yeah." Peeta gestured to the flowers he had been planting. "I found these... out by the forest. It's Primrose."

Hearing the name of her dead sister made Katniss melt into his arms, her eyes filling with unshed tears.

"I'm so sorry, Katniss," Peeta whispered.

Over his shoulder, Katniss cried. But then, a smile came across her face even amidst now tears of relief. She buried the smile into his shoulder. Pulling back to look him in the face, she took Peeta in her arms and gave him the most romantic, most sensuous kiss she could muster. His hijacked mind might move him to kill her, but she wanted to make damn sure he knew. Thankfully, Peeta kissed her back. Katniss leapt into his arms, and Peeta held her up, spinning her around as they smiled around each other's lips, deepening the kiss.

* * *

 _'You'll be happy to hear that Katniss's mother is deploying new medical units in the Capitol. Gale has been promoted to a Captain in District 2, to help keep order and security. And I am enjoying every moment with my son. He reminds me every day of his father. We owe it to ourselves and to our children to do the best with these lives. I hope you are both finding some peace... Annie.'_

Peeta read Annie's letter out loud to Katniss at their kitchen table one night, as she watched him looking both grim and yet sad. Still trying to come back from all the hurt. Annie's mention of our children had gotten Katniss thinking. Peeta wanted children. And even though she never had, for fear of the Games, those competitions of death were over now. Circling the table, she took Peeta's face in her hands and kissed him passionately. When she drew away, she rested her forehead against his.

"Do you want children someday?" she whispered.

Peeta beamed. "I do. And only with you."

Katniss's breath hitched and her eyes pricked with tears, amazed how someone so amazing as him could still love someone like her. "You will. Someday. When I'm ready... you'll be the first to know."

And the couple went upstairs to the bed they shared.


End file.
